My Love for the
Sephardim: Part TwoIs My Love for the Sephardim
“Antiquated”?

Dear Friends,

As I began to discuss
in the previous letter, I love the Sephardim for being “Sephardim” – for
maintaining their “tribal” identity and heritage. I therefore rejoice
that within the last few decades, a growing number of Sephardim in
Israel have developed a renewed pride in their identity and heritage;
thus, many have rediscovered the various Sephardic customs, music, and
special approach to serving the Holy One. This is also true among the
various sub-groups within the extended Sephardic community, for the
customs, music, and special approach of each sub-group is also being
revived.

The Chareidi community
includes both Sephardim and Ashkenazim, and one can experience this
Sephardic revival in my Chareidi neighborhood of Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem,
which has a large and growing Sephardic population. For example, when I
walk the streets of Bayit Vegan after a Shabbos or Festival meal, I hear
Sephardic families singing the beautiful songs of their Sephardic
tradition – songs which stir my soul and warm my heart.

I have a friend in
Israel who serves as a Torah teacher in the National Religious
community, whose members are also known as “Religious Zionists.” He is
on my mailing list, and he therefore received my recent letter about a
“unity” yeshiva in Bayit Vegan where Sephardim and Ashkenazim study
Torah together and develop a deeper appreciation for the unique
traditions and approaches of the “other” community. In response to this
letter about Sephardim and Ashkenazim, he wrote that Chareidim are
holding on to “antiquated identities.” I replied: “I disagree with your
assumption that these are “antiquated identities.” I reminded my friend
that there are sources within our tradition which indicate that
Sephardim and Ashkenazim are to maintain their identities through
following the customs of their respective communities, as long as they
are in accordance with “halacha” – the detailed requirements of the
Torah path. For example, this approach is stressed by a noted sage of
the 17th century, known as the Magen Avraham, in his
commentary on the Shulchan Aruch – the classical code of halacha. The
Magen Avraham indicates that there is a connection between the diverse
Jewish customs of today with the diverse customs of the twelve tribes
during the biblical period, and he writes:

“A person should not depart from the accepted custom of his community.
For there are twelve gates in heaven corresponding to the twelve tribes.
And every tribe has its own gate and tradition, with the exception of
those traditions cited in the Talmud which are applicable to all the
tribes.” (Orach Chaim 68)

Chareidim therefore disagree with my friend’s statement; moreover, it is
my impression that there are people in the National Religious community
who would also disagree with his statement. I have studied Torah with
both National Religious and Chareidi teachers; yet, I do not recall any
of the teachers conveying the message that being a Sephardic Jew or an
Ashkenazic Jew is an “antiquated identity.” I have also lived in both
Religious Zionist and Chareidi neighborhoods, and these neighborhoods
have both Sephardic and Ashkenazic synagogues which preserve the customs
and songs of each community; thus, these diverse synagogues help each
community to preserve its own identity and heritage. In this spirit, I
will continue to love the Sephardim as Sephardim! According to my
understanding of Torah, this form of love is not “antiquated”; on the
contrary, it is a futuristic love which prepares us for the unity within
the diversity which we will experience in the messianic age.

As some of you know, I wrote a book titled, “The Universal Jew,” which
was published in 1995, and I discuss the importance of our “tribal”
diversity on pages 134-140. On page 137, I wrote:

“Unfortunately, not all modern Jews appreciate the beauty of such
diversity. In a recent survey by the Guttman Institute of Applied Social
Research, a cross-section of Israeli Jews was interviewed concerning
their attitudes towards new immigrants. In response to the question as
to whether ethnic groups in Israel should preserve their identity and
customs; fifty-eight percent of Jews identified as religious
responded favorably, while only thirty-eight percent of Jews identified
as secular responded favorably.”

Although a majority of Jews who identified as religious favored
thepreservation of each group’s identity and customs, I was
surprised that the percentage favoring this preservation was not higher.
This may be because some of the National Religious Jews agree with my
friend. Another reason may be the nature of some Israeli surveys, for as
I read in the newspapers, some of these surveys fail to reach the
Chareidi population. If this is the case with the above survey, then it
can explain why the percentage was not higher, for had the survey
included Chareidim, there would have been a much higher percentage of
religious Jews favoring the preservation of these diverse identities and
customs within the Family of Israel.

It is true, however, that diverse identities and customs can lead to
prejudice, snobbery, and divisiveness. This is an old human problem
which has also affected our own people, including the Chareidi
community. The Torah solution to this problem is not through eliminating
the diversity, but through uniting all the diverse communities of our
people through the spiritual vision of the Torah. In this way, the
diverse “tribes” of Israel will be united, and we can then serve as a
model of unity for the diverse “tribes” of humanity. As the Prophets
indicate, all peoples are destined to be united through the vision of
the Torah. (For an example, see Isaiah 2:1-7.)

I would therefore like to review with you the following teaching which
can serve as an example of the Torah approach to unity within diversity:

According to the Midrash, the following verse indicates that the tribes
of Israel had their own individual flags:

“The Children of Israel shall encamp, each person by his flag according
to the insignia of his ancestor’s house, at a distance surrounding the
Tent of Meeting shall they encamp.” (Numbers 2:2)

“Each person by his flag” – The flag of each tribe had a distinguishing
color and emblem representing the tribe. (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 2:7)

The Tent of Meeting – the Sanctuary – contained the Ark of the Covenant,
and within the Ark of the Covenant were the Tablets of the Covenant.
After the Sanctuary was built, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were
commanded to encamp around the Sanctuary with their respective flags.
Before the building of the Sanctuary, there is no mention of their
encamping with flags.

Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, a leading sage of the previous generation,
raised the following question: Why did the Twelve Tribes of Israel have
to wait to encamp with their respective flags until “after” the
Sanctuary was built? He answers that until the Children of Israel had
the Sanctuary – the unifying center – the differences between the tribes
were a potential source of conflict. If the tribes would have encamped
with their separate flags without a unifying spiritual center, there
would have been a surge of “nationalistic” feeling within each tribe,
with each tribe feeling superior to the other. The Sanctuary, however,
provided a central focus to communal life and revealed that, whatever
their differences, the tribes were united by their common service of
Hashem. Once the Sanctuary was built, it was no longer dangerous to
emphasize the unique nature of each tribe through their separate flags.

Let us therefore seek unity among our diverse Jewish communities through
a renewed and loving commitment to Torah – the Divine Teaching. In this
way, we can merit to experience the fulfillment of the following
prophecy that we read on this Shabbos:

“Your people are all
righteous; they will possess the land forever; a shoot of My planting,
My handiwork, in which to glory.” (Isaiah 60:21)